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Custom Q-Loader Plumbing *Updated*

I wanted to get my Q-Loader hose plumbed a little tighter to my mag so I made up a little adapter to mount the low profile elbow right to the Socket.

I still need to make provisions for mounting the detent spring that keeps the balls in the feedtube when you remove the pod. Otherwise it seems to work quite well. I just made the adapter this evening so I haven't played with it yet like this yet. I did just shoot a full pod through it and it fed without a single hiccup.

I want to get some playtime in with it to see if I'm going to like this configuration. If I do, then I'm going to turn a piece to replace the horizontal section of Q-Loader hose.

dude that sweet, simple and awsome. thats awsome to see simple and smart things like this come up.

did you use a lathe?

Thanks!

I used a clapped out old Craftsman/Atlas lathe that we have at work. I used to have my own little machine shop setup in my garage, but all my equipment is now filling a storage unit. Its been a while since I've machined anything, and I had forgotten how much fun it is.

I used a clapped out old Craftsman/Atlas lathe that we have at work. I used to have my own little machine shop setup in my garage, but all my equipment is now filling a storage unit. Its been a while since I've machined anything, and I had forgotten how much fun it is.

hope it stays fun for ya man! better, more creative stuff gets made/done when you do it for fun!

Many moons ago, I tried a similar setup with my Ion (Ion with low rise elbow, Custom adapter for identical elbow on Qloader socket). I shot the following video with some fresh Marballizer:

The very next day, it was blender city with the exact same case of paint, kept in a cooler. I was sure to get the length right (to prevent chopping rounds in the socket), I reduced the number of pre-winds down below the recommended 8, but I never figured out exactly what the problem was. I tried all sorts of changes to the gun to get it working: magnetic detents, spring detents, no QEV (for slower bolt travel), lower pressure (and higher dwell), replacing the eyes (which appeared to be working). For a couple months, I was the guy who had the reputation of showing up at the part, to work on his gun...

I switched the gun over to a warp (intellisynced with a Virtue OLED), and the problem went away for good, and it handles differing bolts, a QEV, High or Low pressure, with no trouble at all.

My final suspicions were (I never isolated it):

Fixed hose length doesn't allow for tiny amounts of hose flex to compensate for varying ball sizes (from case to case or even the same case as they day gets warmer, this would lead to socket chops during pod changes).

Fixed hose length doesn't allow balls to travel the necessary handful of milimeters back up the stack to prevent bolt clip.

I really wanted to use this system- I slugged through three years with the QLoader and I still have all of the pods/equipment. The last time I set it up was a direct mount onto an SP-1 with the pre-winds way down (6 or less), and it worked fine for a chrono session.

I'm not saying you've got a bad system. I'm really hoping that it works for you. If it works for you, then it must've been something else with my setup.

Many moons ago, I tried a similar setup with my Ion (Ion with low rise elbow, Custom adapter for identical elbow on Qloader socket). I shot the following video with some fresh Marballizer:

The very next day, it was blender city with the exact same case of paint, kept in a cooler. I was sure to get the length right (to prevent chopping rounds in the socket), I reduced the number of pre-winds down below the recommended 8, but I never figured out exactly what the problem was. I tried all sorts of changes to the gun to get it working: magnetic detents, spring detents, no QEV (for slower bolt travel), lower pressure (and higher dwell), replacing the eyes (which appeared to be working). For a couple months, I was the guy who had the reputation of showing up at the part, to work on his gun...

I switched the gun over to a warp (intellisynced with a Virtue OLED), and the problem went away for good, and it handles differing bolts, a QEV, High or Low pressure, with no trouble at all.

My final suspicions were (I never isolated it):

Fixed hose length doesn't allow for tiny amounts of hose flex to compensate for varying ball sizes (from case to case or even the same case as they day gets warmer, this would lead to socket chops during pod changes).

Fixed hose length doesn't allow balls to travel the necessary handful of milimeters back up the stack to prevent bolt clip.

I really wanted to use this system- I slugged through three years with the QLoader and I still have all of the pods/equipment. The last time I set it up was a direct mount onto an SP-1 with the pre-winds way down (6 or less), and it worked fine for a chrono session.

I'm not saying you've got a bad system. I'm really hoping that it works for you. If it works for you, then it must've been something else with my setup.

Hmm... I suppose we will see. I've only put one pod through it so far, so its far from a proven setup right now. I will post up my results as I tune in this setup. I like how compact it makes the feedhose so hopefully it ends up being reliable.

You know, in all honesty, there was hardly any 'stock ion' any more. The Reg, the bolt, the board (and solenoid), the eyes, the detents, trigger, body, were all aftermarket from the best companies available. I got a kick because several folks lamented about using AKA and AGD components (reg and warp respectively) on an SP gun. I went with the Ion because, at the time when I started the project (2006) there were no single finger electro guns with rails.

When I switched to the Warp feed, that same gun worked great all the way till I switched to first strike rounds:

I recently (May) took it down off the shelf, cleaned and re-lubed the o-rings, gave it and the Warp new batteries, and it went through the dinner battle at living legends without missing a beat. I didn't even chrono it before I loaded it in the car.

Last edited by uv_halo; 06-21-2013 at 11:25 AM.
Reason: For clarity in who I was talking to.

Hmm... I suppose we will see. I've only put one pod through it so far, so its far from a proven setup right now. I will post up my results as I tune in this setup. I like how compact it makes the feedhose so hopefully it ends up being reliable.

I'm with you! A good tight Qloader setup feels much better than any hopper-based gun. Keep us posted!

I'm with you! A good tight Qloader setup feels much better than any hopper-based gun. Keep us posted!

That's for sure!

I was a little worried that it would make my marker too front heavy mounted like that. With a full pod the ballance point is still about 5/8" behind the trigger. So far I really like how this setup feels... can't wait to get some playtime in with it.

Where I'm going with this idea (if it proves out) is to have the q socket integrated into a custom foregrip so its even more compact. I recently came across some Solidworks models I started a few years ago with this goal in mind and figured its time to make some progress on it.

In order to continue with them I needed a baseline from which to measure, and I wanted to try the idea out without spending a ton of time on something custom just to find out I don't like it.

just use the feed guide and detent spring that already comes with the Q-loader..that will be the easiest way to do that?

That's probably what I'm going to do. The feed guide won't fit with my adapter in there though. So I'm going to cut it down so all that is left of it is the very bottom of it (essentially it will just be a black plastic washer). This should allow me to remove my adapter for easy cleaning without disturbing the detent spring. Getting the detent spring back into place isn't too bad when I'm working at a table, but its not something I want to be fiddling with on the field.

That's probably what I'm going to do. The feed guide won't fit with my adapter in there though. So I'm going to cut it down so all that is left of it is the very bottom of it (essentially it will just be a black plastic washer). This should allow me to remove my adapter for easy cleaning without disturbing the detent spring. Getting the detent spring back into place isn't too bad when I'm working at a table, but its not something I want to be fiddling with on the field.

could you bore out your adapter a lil so the feed guide will fit snug? keep tha OD of the adapter the same and just bore out the ID of the adapter?

did the same thing but with a PVC elbow and it worked great:

check out tha pod loader stand...makes loading at tha field so much easier:

That's probably what I'm going to do. The feed guide won't fit with my adapter in there though. So I'm going to cut it down so all that is left of it is the very bottom of it (essentially it will just be a black plastic washer). This should allow me to remove my adapter for easy cleaning without disturbing the detent spring. Getting the detent spring back into place isn't too bad when I'm working at a table, but its not something I want to be fiddling with on the field.

Just because AIC did it a certain way doesn't necessarily mean you need to reproduce it. I would consider making the ball gate separate from the neck -- maybe just glue a standoff or something in the socket, put a hole in the gate and screw it into the socket. Either that or maybe try using a magnet -- I know reebs here is a big fan of magnets. Just glue a magnet into the socket and have that hold the gate.

And speaking of the loader stands, I remember a while back another thread where someone was complaining about having to bring a stand in order to reload his pods and how inconvenient it was or something.

Just because AIC did it a certain way doesn't necessarily mean you need to reproduce it. I would consider making the ball gate separate from the neck -- maybe just glue a standoff or something in the socket, put a hole in the gate and screw it into the socket. Either that or maybe try using a magnet -- I know reebs here is a big fan of magnets. Just glue a magnet into the socket and have that hold the gate.

And speaking of the loader stands, I remember a while back another thread where someone was complaining about having to bring a stand in order to reload his pods and how inconvenient it was or something.

I was like... really?

very nice man!!! are you gonna market those...or start a pre-order?

simple and works well...that box mod is wat i used before this loader stand.

Just because AIC did it a certain way doesn't necessarily mean you need to reproduce it. I would consider making the ball gate separate from the neck -- maybe just glue a standoff or something in the socket, put a hole in the gate and screw it into the socket. Either that or maybe try using a magnet -- I know reebs here is a big fan of magnets. Just glue a magnet into the socket and have that hold the gate.

I'll probably just cut down one of the extra feed guides I have laying around first, just because its quick and easy. I like the magnet idea though, I'm going to play around with that one and see what I can do with it.

I dig the box mod... that's probably what I'll be using until I get around to making a slick stand for it.

*Update*

Here is an update on where I'm at with this:

I have a total of 3 pods of paint through the configuration in the first post.

Pod # 1 Using Draxus Bronze Blaze: Fed perfectly fine, no chops but I did have one barrel break because the paint was crappy (I tried the paint in 4 different markers and had barrel breaks with all of them)

Pod # 2 Using All Star paint: Fed perfect, no breaks, no chops Approx 90 degrees outside when I did this one.

Pod # 3 Using All Star Paint: I shot this one immediately after #2. I had left the pod sitting in direct sun for 45 minutes before I shot it. The outside of the pod measured 105.4 deg. at the point I used it. This one fed perfectly fine, no breaks but I did have one I would call a "leaker" meaning that it did not full on break, but was leaking just a little fill down the barrel and one small spot in an elbow.

On to my current configuration:

I redesigned my socket to elbow adapter to have two o-rings. It stayed in place just fine with the single o-ring, the two o-rings make it more rigid side to side though, so it won't be as likely to move if I knock it against a bunker or tree.

I modified the feed guide to hold the ball gate in place under my adapter. I just cut off the "tube" part of it leaving what amounts to a black plastic washer.

I found that there was a nub molded into the Q socket that was preventing the feed guide from sitting squarely in the feedneck. I sanded this nub down until the feed guide and my adapter fit without a gap.

I also made up the horizontal feed tube piece out of aluminum.

I've put one pod of All Star through this setup so far. The entire pod fed without any problems whatsoever.

The one thing i don't like about the aluminum horizontal feed tube is that it makes it more difficult to take apart for cleaning. I have a couple ideas on how to modify the ends of the feed tube to alleviate this problem. I will be trying these out soon.

easy..hit up tha hard ware store, get some socket screw head caps and a few stand off spacers and make your own thumb screws.

when i had my tippman A-5 w/flatline barrel i made some to make taking the flatline barrel easy to take off for cleaning. also did this for a few feed necks as well....they are with screws, bolts, nuts, and washers